How In-House Lawyers Can Build Influence to Drive Impact

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Deep Dive

Building Influence to Drive Impact

Companies think of their in-house legal departments in lots of different ways.

Some view Legal as a hurdle. Others see it as a helpful service function—cooperative, yes, but reactive, and mostly focused on risk mitigation. And a few treat Legal as a true partner: a team working alongside the business to help achieve company goals, from a legal vantage point.

The way Legal is seen often feels fixed. Reputation is sticky. And if the relationship between Legal and the business hasn’t evolved in a while, people may not even realize how much more is possible.

But “fixed” doesn’t mean “unchangeable.”

You can probably guess which version of Legal has the most influence. And as both an individual lawyer and a member of Team Legal, you want influence.

Influence is how you maximize your impact. It’s also how you make your work more rewarding and a lot more fun. There’s nothing worse than seeing around a corner, warning the business of a risk or calling out a great opportunity, and being totally ignored—only to have your prediction play out months later. (I’ve been there. It stinks.)

And the reverse is also true. When people listen, trust you, and act on your ideas: that’s magic. It’s also how real value gets unlocked.

So whether your legal team already has a seat at the table or is still fighting the “Department of No” label, it’s your job to build your influence and your reputation.

Here’s what I’ve seen work again and again.

Doing the Right Work

In-house lawyers are never short on things to do. There’s always more work than time.

To build influence, you need to be intentional about where you focus. That means spending more time on high-value work, while minimizing the time and energy spent on work that doesn’t meaningfully move the business forward.

Some of what lands on your desk will be reactive and necessary. But not all of it will be high impact.

Take routine vendor contracts, for example. If the business has to sign the agreement to get the product or service, the legal review is mostly about risk mitigation. You need to catch anything egregious—like wildly one-sided indemnities or absurd payment terms—but otherwise, this isn’t the kind of work that truly drives the business forward or that gets you noticed. It’s important that it’s done well, but no one celebrates it. And if it can be handled by someone outside Legal, templatized, or completed with AI assistance, it should be.

That’s not true of all necessary work. Some of it is high value. Think about customer contract negotiations that protect revenue, speed up payment, shorten deal cycles, or keep key clients coming back. That’s real impact. For this kind of work, the legal department’s time is well spent.  And tools like templates, playbooks, and AI can help you deliver even more value, faster.

And then there’s proactive work: the kind where Legal surfaces a risk or opportunity before anyone asks. This is where you can truly shine. When Legal helps the business seize an opportunity or avoid a costly mistake, you become the trusted advisor. That’s a highly effective way to build influence. 

Approaching Challenges as Leader & Solution Builder

Good in-house lawyers spot risks around corners.  It’s a core part of the value in-house Legal brings—seeing around corners and flagging issues early, before they blow up.

But a quick way to annoy your colleagues is to tell them all the problems with their plan–whether the issues are legal or business ones–without proposing a solution. 

Great in-house lawyers spot risks and challenges, and find or create solutions.  

Is the vendor your team wanted to bring on to handle sensitive data under investigation for privacy violations in all the relevant jurisdictions? Definitely tell someone.  But also, find another solution, like a different vendor or a way to in-house the work.  

Does the vendor contract require $5M in insurance coverage, when your policy limit is $3M?  If negotiating the limit down doesn’t work, see whether you can negotiate a discount on the goods or services to cover the increased insurance costs. 

By becoming a problem spotter and solver, you help move the business forward and build influence. 

Building Meaningful Relationships

Influence at the company or department level starts with one-on-one conversations with people who come to know and trust you. 

If you want Legal to be seen as a partner across the business, that perception begins with individual decision-makers believing you add value. As a lawyer, and also as someone who gets the business, works toward shared goals, and makes things easier.

People listen to the colleagues they trust and respect.

That’s why relationships are a core part of your influence.

When people know you, they’re more likely to come to you early. They’re more open to your input. They loop you in before the fire drill, not after. Over time, that dynamic shapes how Legal is seen across the company—not as a bottleneck, but as a strategic asset.

Of course, influence isn’t the only reason relationships matter. I’ve written before about how strong relationships make your job easier, your impact bigger, and your day-to-day more enjoyable. I’ve also shared some of my favorite ways to build those relationships—even if you’re remote, busy, or introverted.

Building a Powerful Personal Brand

People talk.

Internally, externally, across teams, and up the chain, your name comes up in conversations you’re not in. What they say is your personal brand.

Having a strong personal brand, internally and externally, matters.  Do people know what they can count on you for? Are you known as someone who delivers? Someone who’s practical, strategic, easy to work with?

That reputation shapes how much influence you have. It determines whether your input carries weight in a meeting, whether you get looped in early, whether leaders trust you with the thorny stuff that really matters.

Your work speaks for itself, but only if people are paying attention. Building a strong personal brand helps make sure they are and builds your influence.

Building a Business-Minded Department Brand

Just like individuals have a brand, so does the legal team.

Is Legal seen as the department of “no”—slow, rigid, a necessary evil? Or as a trusted advisor that helps the business move faster, smarter, and with less risk?

That collective reputation impacts everything: how early you’re brought in, how seriously your advice is taken, and whether your team is viewed as a cost center or a strategic advantage.

You don’t build that brand overnight—but you do shape it with every interaction, every deliverable, and every relationship.

Whether you're the GC or the most junior member of the legal team, you’re part of that brand. And your daily actions either reinforce or reshape how Legal is seen and how much influence you and your colleagues have. 

Start Your Influence Building Today

Influence is something you build.  

You build it by focusing on the right work, by showing up with solutions, by investing in relationships, and by shaping how people experience you and your team.

Sometimes it happens slowly, behind the scenes. Other times, it shows up all at once, like in a big meeting, a critical decision, a moment when someone says, “Let’s loop Legal in early.”

That moment happens because you did the work to earn it.

So whether you’re just starting to build your influence or looking to take it to the next level, remember: this is work worth doing.